Harry, who foresaw it all, thrilled and shuddered at the remembrance.  It was in there that the great Jackson had fallen in the hour of supreme triumph.  Not far away were the heights of Fredericksburg, where Burnside had led the bravest of the brave to unavailing slaughter.  As Belgium had been for centuries the cockpit of Europe, so the wild and sterile region in Virginia that men call the Wilderness became the cockpit of North America.

While Lee and his army were turning into the Wilderness Grant and the greatest force that the Union had yet assembled were seeking him.  It was composed of men who had tasted alike of victory and defeat, veterans skilled in all the wiles and stratagems of war, and with hearts to endure anything.  In this host was a veteran regiment that had come East to serve under Grant as it had served under him so valiantly in the West.  Colonel Winchester rode at its head and beside him rode his favorite aide, young Richard Mason.  Not far away was Colonel Hertford, with a numerous troop of splendid cavalry.

Grant, alert and resolved to win, carried in his pocket a letter which he had received from Lincoln, saying: 

Not expecting to see you before the spring campaign opens, I wish to express in this way my entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, so far as I understand it.  The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know.  You are vigilant and self-reliant, and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any constraints or restraints upon you.  While I am very anxious that any great disaster or the capture of our men in great numbers should be avoided, I know these points are less likely to escape your attention than they would mine.  If there is anything wanting which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know it.  And now, with a brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you.

A noble letter, breathing the loftiest spirit, and showing that moral grandeur which has been so characteristic of America’s greatest men.  He had put all in Grant’s hands and he had given to him an army, the like of which had never been seen until now on the American continent.  Never before had the North poured forth its wealth and energy in such abundance.

Four thousand wagons loaded with food and ammunition followed the army, and there was a perfect system by which a wagon emptied of its contents was sent back to a depot to be refilled, while a loaded wagon took its place at the front.  Complete telegram equipments, poles, wires, instruments and all were carried with every division.  The wires could be strung easily and the lieutenant-general could talk to every part of his army.  There were, also, staffs of signalmen, in case the wires should fail at any time.  Grant held in his hand all the resources of the North, and if he could not win no one could.

All through the night the hostile armies marched, and before them went the spies and scouts.